Command to list services that start on startup?

Question

Is there a command to list services that run on startup? I imagine it would involve parsing /etc/init.d/, and the various /etc/rc.* directories.

score 195 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 26 '21 at 03:08

195

The quick answer is: It depends on your init system.

The long answer is: For current versions of Ubuntu, you probably have a mix of Upstart, and SystemV. Newer versions of Ubuntu after 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" (and other Linux distros like RHEL/CentOS 7) are moving to use SystemD.

Upstart

Upstart Documentation

To list all services:

sudo initctl list

To list all Upstart services and run initctl show-config on them, this one-liner may be helpful:

sudo initctl list | awk '{ print $1 }' | xargs -n1 initctl show-config

System V

SysV Runlevels Documentation

To list all services:

sudo service --status-all

OR:

# for init scripts:
ls /etc/init.d/

# for runlevel symlinks:
ls /etc/rc*.d/

SystemD

To list all services:

sudo systemctl --all list-unit-files --type=service

OR:

ls /lib/systemd/system/*.service /etc/systemd/system/*.service

edited Oct 26 '21 at 03:08

Akhil

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answered Sep 27 '15 at 03:49

TrinitronX

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This should be the accepted answer. – sjas Dec 06 '16 at 13:02
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`service --status-all` does NOT show whether services are enabled to start on boot, at least not on Ubuntu 16. It shows whether services are *currently running* or not. – Wildcard Apr 18 '19 at 21:35
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I had to `sudo service --status-all` to get _all_ of the services to show up. A few were hidden when I only ran `service --status-all` on a non-root account. – Phlucious May 23 '19 at 16:30
@Phlucious : Thanks for mentioning that. I assumed it was well known that these commands are usually run as root (`systemctl`, `service`, `initctl`...) as they are usually considered system administration commands. – TrinitronX Jun 11 '19 at 19:56
`service --status-all` This command worked in my `debian` box too – Arun Aug 14 '20 at 04:53
The OP asked for services starting on startup, so you need the `--state enabled` bit to systemctl. And as man page state `service --status-all` will return if they are running or not, not if they are set to run on startup – Pablo Bianchi Oct 29 '21 at 07:15

score 114 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 10 '14 at 21:33

114

You can simply use the initctl list shell command to list the contents of /etc/init rather than the suggested dbus-send command.

edited Jan 10 '14 at 21:33

BuZZ-dEE

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answered Oct 13 '10 at 02:04

Scott

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Does this work in Ubuntu 18.04? I get "initctl: command not found" (in bash) – Sanjay Manohar Aug 15 '19 at 19:12
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`initctl list` does not found on Ubuntu 19.10 – Rémy Hosseinkhan Boucher Dec 18 '19 at 11:55
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@RémyHosseinkhanBoucher For more recent version of Ubuntu https://askubuntu.com/a/1167921/988056 – AppyGG Mar 03 '20 at 08:41

score 14 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 29 '21 at 00:22

14

For Ubuntu 18.04 use :

systemctl list-units --type=service

instead of initctl.

Since Ubuntu 16.04, initctl has been replaced by systemd (source, in French).

If it can help @sanjay-manohar.

edited Oct 29 '21 at 00:22

Pablo Bianchi

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answered Aug 23 '19 at 13:17

AppyGG

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score 13 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 10 '14 at 21:35

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The /etc/init.d and /etc/rc.* directories have been superseded by the 'upstart' init tool. Although scripts in these directories will be executed as expected, the new method for running things on init is defined by files in /etc/init/

You can list all of the upstart jobs with by querying upstart over dbus:

dbus-send --print-reply --system --dest=com.ubuntu.Upstart \
        /com/ubuntu/Upstart com.ubuntu.Upstart0_6.GetAllJobs

You may have to change 0_6 to reflect the version of upstart you have. This command works on my lucid install.

edited Jan 10 '14 at 21:35

BuZZ-dEE

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answered Jul 29 '10 at 03:30

Jeremy Kerr

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@Eric H: Could your set the answer below as correct instead - `initctl list` is much nicer than this dbus command. I'd like to leave this answer here for reference (rather than deleting it completely) though. – Jeremy Kerr Feb 24 '11 at 04:48

score 12 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 29 '21 at 00:26

12

If you want a nice graphical representation of services and time it takes to boot try:

sudo apt install bootchart

For systemd (since 16.04) try systemd-bootchart instead:

sudo apt install systemd-bootchart

edited Oct 29 '21 at 00:26

Pablo Bianchi

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answered Oct 13 '10 at 03:39

score 11 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 21 '14 at 10:46

11

Id use initctl show-config <servicename> to really get the details of when/if your service will start during boot.

Like so:

$ initctl show-config myservice
myservice
  start on runlevel [2345]
  stop on runlevel [!2345]

Or for NFS4 idmap-daemon:

$ initctl show-config idmapd
idmapd
  start on (local-filesystems or mounting TYPE=nfs4)
  stop on runlevel [06]

chkconfig is only preferable on RedHat based systems imho.

answered Jul 21 '14 at 10:46

CBmemnon

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This is the correct answer. I have no idea why all the wrong and incomplete answers are so highly upvoted. – Cerin Sep 08 '16 at 15:35
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This doenst work for people using SysV, I agree this it a good answer but it is incomplete. – Gabriel Netto Dec 12 '16 at 12:59

score 9 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

9

On 12.04 we could use:

sudo apt-get install chkconfig
chkconfig --list

but it was removed in 12.10.

Sample output:

acpi-support              0:off  1:off  2:on   3:on   4:on   5:on   6:off
acpid                     0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off
apparmor                  0:off  1:off  2:off  3:off  4:off  5:off  6:off  S:on

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Community

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answered Mar 06 '14 at 06:26

Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com

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Doesn't work in Ubuntu. http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?suite=trusty&section=all&arch=any&keywords=chkconfig&searchon=names – A.B. Apr 24 '15 at 07:21
@A.B. thanks for letting me know! It is rare for downvoters to comment nowadays: it requires courage and allows me to learn. updated with the version it works in. – Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com Apr 24 '15 at 07:58
On Precise: http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/chkconfig – Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com Apr 24 '15 at 07:59

score 5 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 29 '19 at 09:37

Besides system services and scripts under:

/etc/init.d/
/lib/systemd/system/
/etc/systemd/system/

There are probably AutoStart Applications too, for example:

find / -name "*autostart*"

ls -1 "/etc/xdg/autostart" "/home/$USER/.config/autostart" "/usr/share/gdm/autostart"  "/usr/share/gnome/autostart"

score -1 · Answer 9 · edited Jan 07 '17 at 17:41

-1

Using gawk:

ls -l /etc/rc*.d/* | gawk 'match($0, /rc([0-6S]).d.*\/(.*)$/, a) {l[a[2]]=l[a[2]]a[1]","}; END{for(v in l){print v,substr(l[v],1,length(l[v])-1)}}'

Sample output:

$ ls -l /etc/rc*.d/* | gawk 'match($0, /rc([0-6S]).d.*\/(.*)$/, a) {l[a[2]]=l[a[2]]a[1]","}; END{for(v in l){print v,substr(l[v],1,length(l[v])-1)}}' | egrep README
README 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,S

edited Jan 07 '17 at 17:41

muru

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answered Jan 07 '17 at 16:04

Carlos Alvsan

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Command to list services that start on startup?

9 Answers9

Upstart

System V

SystemD

Linked